WSU graduate finds behind-the-scenes niche in theater arts
Students in Wright State University’s theater program are often associated with acting, singing and danc- ing. But for them to put on a show, they need students like Anna Hunter.
Hunter is one of those who work behind the scenes, designing and building sets, procuring and mak- ing props and managing the actors’ entrances and exits. She graduated Saturday, but not before leaving behind a legacy beyond that of most of her peers.
She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in the- atre design and technology, with concentrations in stage management, props and set designs, and a minor in Ger- man.
Hunter was born and raised in Fort Collins, Colorado. Her parents are Wright State alumni who moved to Colorado in 2000: Jill (Tonkin) Simpson received a bachelor’s degree in education in 1992 and Joseph Hunter received a bachelor’s degree in material science and engineering in 1993.
“In high school, I had no interests beyond theater,” Hunter said. “It was the first activity I did that I connected with.”
Her interest was not as a performer, but in the props used onstage to help tell the stories. When it came time for college trips, she visited Colorado schools, but none of them were quite what she wanted.
Then she joined her mother on a trip to visit family in Dayton in sum- mer 2019.
“She wanted to take a walk down memory lane,” Hunter said.
After taking a campus tour of Wright State, Hunter returned later that summer to attend a Wright State open house and learn more about the theater program.
What made the open house noteworthy was the attention she received, she said.
“I hadn’t been to a cam- pus yet that paid that much attention to every single stu- dent,” she said. “That was the most individual attention I’ve received. ...”
She also was impressed by the attention to props in the theater program. Witnessing an exchange among those in a theater production crew, she said, “They were looking for a wheelchair, and the question was asked, ‘Mod- ern or vintage?’ They wanted vintage. ‘Good or bad con- dition?’ I was impressed by the attention to detail.”
As a first-year student at Wright State, she was required to take acting and dance classes but shifted to design and technology.
“I was very, very lucky that in high school we had a stu- dent-run theater, and we did pretty much all the work: set-building, props-crafting, handling budgets and painting. I got a lot of hands-on experience in high school,” she said.
That experience came in handy for Hunter, who served as a stage manager and prop master and designed the sets for “Kelly the Destroyer,” “A Doll’s House” and “A Doll’s House, Part Two.
Designing and building a set is like producing a 3D picture, she said.
“It’s sculpture. It’s construction. It’s drawing. It’s painting — a lot of different art forms,” Hunter said.
Hunter has been the only student involved in planning and producing the past three ArtsGala events, the College of Liberal Arts’ scholarship fundraiser. Other students volunteer and perform at the gala, but Hunter’s involvement starts months before.